I know the community is not in love with the police right now, but Boston Police were very measured and calm in their response from 7 until I left at 11:30pm. Night and day from #Ferguson response. I know BPD has a complicated history and many unpleasant incidents, but tonight I saw no provocation from them. They were adamant that the protest not get on the highway. I witnessed several scuffles and arrests as i was literally in the middle of the first line as a white ally at the first police barricade by the prison. The police were not voicing their requirements of us, they were not telling us to disperse, and the protest leaders had gone silent in anticipation of their next move. That was the scariest moment. No one was offering instructions. There was a wall of cops, with tons more arriving by the second, and literally over a thousand protesters behind me. These white pipsqueak 20 year olds were trying to lead, and by lead I mean storm the castle, and that sucked. Like, dude, I am not listening to some pipsqueak 20 year old white kid telling me to attack the police when there are seasoned black civil rights activists here. I would have been arrested for sure. At that point i figured i would just offer my hands forward and allow them to arrest me in protest. It did not come to that. 2 kids to my left tried to push through the police line and were dragged into the police area to be arrested. I did not witness any inappropriateness during these arrests. I was glad the rest of the crowd also paid the kids no mind. were these the outside agitators i hear about? please. Fortunately, the protest leaders finally spoke, the ones who we all respect and were waiting to hear from, and decided to move into the city instead. it was announced that we would be going up Massachusetts Ave. As we moved from that location through the city, many cops were standing back and essentially monitoring and observing. I saw many helicopters and police commotion on the next street over, when we were on boylston i saw tons of them on newbury. but they werent coming at us. they were hanging back. so they were basically permitting us through and remaining back just far enough and pretty much out of sight. I thought it was very smart and well done policing. It was not antagonistic at all. Again, they barricaded the highway at 2 more locations, and there were minor scuffles and some arrests. I PRAY IT LASTS TO NOW. I HAVE NO IDEA WHATS GOING ON NOW.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 05:16:39 +0000
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